Singin’ in the Rain

Oh lord, getting into the top five movies of all time. I mean one would assume that these movies would have to be pretty damn fantastic. That’s why I’m super happy that one of my personal favorite movies off all time just happens to be Singin’ in the Rain.

In case you do not attend the movie marathons hosted by my grandmother and myself, in which case you are absolutely missing out, Singin’ in the Rain, is about Hollywood’s transition from silent movies to talkies. It focuses specifically on Don Lockwood (played by Gene Kelly) his friend Cosmo (Donald O’Connor) and an aspiring actress turned loved interest Kathy (Debbie Reynolds). While Kelly has no problem adjusting to the talking, and his atrocious sounding costar Lina Lemont creates a problem. Oh and there is some dancing and singing, because doesn’t that make every movie better?

So in case you were unaware, Gene Kelly is a phenomenal dancer, I meets its pretty ridiculous and also not fair. Here I am looking like fool trying to find the rhythm, and Kelly whips out this insane tap routine and it doesn’t even look like work. I wouldn’t exactly consider myself a dancing expert (my commentary while watching So You Think You Can Dance can attest to that) but even I know he’s is pretty amazing.

And O’Connor, the guy dancing next to him, doesn’t suck either. But apparently he didn’t have quite the stamina that Kelly did. After performing his song “Make Them Laugh” in which he performs an amazing dance routine, he was sent to the hospital, I guess that’s what happens when you smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day. Here that kids, you smoke and you won’t be able to perform elaborate dance routines either.

My absolute favorite part in the movie in the “Singin’ in the Rain” song, I mean I know that’s no exactly originally, but there is a reason it’s so iconic!

It turns out that Kelly had a 103 degree fever while filming the scene, which is actually ridiculous because I can’t do half those things in the peak of my health. And even though it was said that milk was combined with water to make the water show on film, Wikipedia says no way jose. Apparently they just used front lighting.

You would think that a movie with dancing and singing numbers would cast an actress who could dance. Turns out no. Debbie Reynolds was actually a gymnast, and did not have that much experience in dance, which is exactly what you need when you dance next to Gene Kelly. But apparently Kelly was super mean to her. When Fred Astaire visited the set he found Reynolds crying under a piano. Luckily he offered to help her with her dance moves and everything turned out okay. Oh an a super fun fact about movie. So basically Reynolds ends up voicing over Lina Lemont’s dialogue and singing in the movie because her voice is terrible. But in Singin’ in the Rain they actually had someone else come in to sing for Reynolds, so crazy how art imitates life and all.

To me this movie is flawless. Well except for that random 10 minute dance number that literally has nothing to do with the plot, but it’s a good time to catch up on some Candy Crush, so I personally think that it’s just the movie being considerate. But to be honest I have never watched this movie without a constant smile on my face. It makes me so incredibly happy. It’s so funny and romantic and wonderful. And if I could dance like Gene Kelly I would be singing in the rain too.

Rating: 5 out of 5 times singing in the rain looked like the epitome of happiness